1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to print processing method and apparatus and, more particularly, to print processing method and apparatus for storing print data into a spool device, designating the number of copies, and printing. The invention further relates to a storage medium in which program codes to execute the print processing method have been stored.
2. Related Background Art
In the recent information oriented age, since a necessity to process a large amount of information occurs, it is required to reduce the processing time. For this purpose, even in a printing system, a countermeasure such as installation of a spool device, use of a plurality of sheet ejection ports, or the like is taken.
Hitherto, in case of printing a plurality of copies of data of a plurality of pages to a print output apparatus (printer) by using an information processing system (host), the print data is transferred to the printer only the number of times as many as the designated number of copies. For example, in case of outputting three copies of a document of three pages, as shown in FIG. 4, the data of pages 1 to 3 is transferred from the host to the printer three times, thereby printing a predetermined number of copies of the print data. However, in the case where a size of data of pages 1 to 3 is equal to 100 kB (kilobytes), in order to realize an output of a copy unit as shown in FIG. 4, the data of total 300 kB is transferred, so that it takes a printing time and an efficiency is low.
To raise a printing efficiency by improving it, hitherto, a spool device to store the print data is provided for the printer, the data of, for example, pages 1 to 3 is once transferred from the host, and the printer uses the data stored in the spool device a plurality of number of times (three times in the example of FIG. 4), thereby realizing the output of the copy unit.
An information processing and the making of a document in the host are prevailing and it is demanded to print a large quantity of copies. In the printer, therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a construction in which a plurality of paper feed ports and a plurality of sheet ejection ports are provided and the installation of the spool device are being progressed so that a large number of sheets can be handled. To effectively use the printing process of the copy unit in such a printer, it is insufficient to use only the conventional technique.
For example, in the case where the data to be outputted on a copy unit basis corresponds to tens of pages and its data size is equal to, for example, 1 MB (megabytes) and exceeds a capacity (for instance, 750 kB) of the spool device of the printer, there is a problem such that the technique to use the spool device of the conventional printer cannot be used. Although the effect of the technique to use the spool device is more exhibited as the size of data to be printed to a plurality of copies is larger, there is a drawback such that if the data whose capacity exceeds the capacity of the spool device even by a few bytes is outputted, the spool device cannot be used and an output time is long.